National Basketball Association
Penn St. 61, Michigan St 48
When: 4:05 PM ET, Saturday, March 12, 2011
Where: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials:
# Michael Kitts, # Mike Sanzere, # Terry Wymer
Attendance:
18377
By SportsDirect Inc.
Talor Battle hit four consecutive 3-pointers early in the second half on his way to 25 points to lead Penn State to a 61-48 victory over Michigan State in a Big Ten semifinal Saturday in Indianapolis.
Point guard Tim Frazier scored a career-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and added eight rebounds and six assists for the Nittany Lions (19-13), who will be playing in their first Big Ten final and perhaps their first NCAA tournament game in 10 years.
The Spartans (19-14), who started the season ranked in the top five, will also sweat out Selection Sunday after reaching the Final Four last season.
Battle, who shot 3 of 18 in the Lions’ 36-33 quarterfinal win Friday over Wisconsin, shot 7 of 16 in this one, including 6 of 11 from the arc. He also grabbed seven rebounds as Penn State outrebounded the much bigger Spartans 36-28.
Battle, Penn State’s all-time scoring leader, started his 3-point binge with 16:40 to play in the game with a shot from the right wing that provided the Lions a 33-29 lead. He then connected from the left wing, right wing again and straightaway with 14 minutes left that provided a 42-33 lead.
Frazier converted a fast-break layup and Jeff Brooks canned a left-corner 3-pointer to extend the lead to 49-35 with 9:12 left, and the Spartans never recovered.
Kalin Lucas, who scored a career-high 30 in the quarterfinal win over Purdue, finished with 16 on 5-of-12 shooting, but he appeared to be limited because of a sprained right ankle suffered in Thursday’s first-round win over Iowa
Michigan State hit seven of its first 10 shots to take a 19-10 lead, but Penn State succeeded in slowing down the pace and drawing even at 27-27 at the break.
Top Game Performances
Michigan St |
|
Penn St. |
Kalin Lucas 16 |
Scoring |
Taylor Battle 25 |
Draymond Green 4 |
Assists |
Tim Frazier 6 |
Draymond Green 7 |
Rebounds |
Tim Frazier 8 |
Draymond Green 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Taylor Battle 5 |
Keith Appling 1 |
Steals |
Jeff Brooks 3 |
Draymond Green 1 |
Blocks |
Jeff Brooks 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Michigan St
|
48 |
32.1 |
8-23 |
6-12 |
12 |
28 |
4 |
3 |
|
Penn St.
|
61 |
42.0 |
9-22 |
10-16 |
11 |
36 |
6 |
5 |
|